I’m not talking about changing any ROUTES, just adapting the existing routes to current conditions!
John: I appreciate that you are attempting to understand and present Boardman’s postion and do not necessarily endorse it. But it seems to me, based on a reading of his speech to the Midwest HSR group (posted by me and others), that he regards LD services as a burden for Amtrak’s cores (the NEC and other corridors). He would like Congress to decide whether or not to fund them separately or discontinue, that is to say, have Congress directly subsidize those routes, much like the state-subsidized services. He is clear that he believes it is wrong for the operating surplus from the NEC and Acela to subsidize the massive operating losses of LD routes.
It is also clear from the ~40 year history of Amtrak that LD services are not immune from modifications or elimination, as sam1 has pointed out earlier on this thread.
Schlimm,
I completely agree with your post. Even the part that LD trains could be altered or eliminated by Congress. In fact, with the current Congress I think that is a distinct possibility although I still believe it most likely will not happen during the Obama Administration.
John
John-
You seem to be confusing the notion that because Congress has directed long distance train routes, that it precludes Amtrak taking any action, or even making recommendations on routes or service within routes. It doesn’t.
For example, Congress did not tell Amtrak which routes to employ Superliners first, How many sleepers to put on the CZ vs EB, or what kind of food service car the Boston section of the LSL should carry.
Amtrak is free to do quite a bit. My point is that they don’t do it. They don’t even try. They seem to have all they can do today, what they did yesterday - and it’s not from a shortage of people.
This train proposal made the news in Charlotte today.
http://www.wsoctv.com/news/news/local/new-plans-high-speed-rail-atlanta-charlotte/nYCJ3/
http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2013/06/05/4087177/charlotte-atlanta-train-line-hearing.html
Transportation officials will hold a public hearing Thursday afternoon in Charlotte, on the proposed Charlotte-Atlanta passenger train line.
The hearing will be from 3-6 p.m. at the N.C. Department of Transportation office, 2327 Tipton Drive. That is off Statesville Avenue, near I-85 and I-77 in north Charlotte.
State and federal officials are proposing to extend the Southeast High-Speed Rail Corridor, under development from Washington to Charlotte, into the Atlanta area. Six difference routes are being considered, but the train would connect with the Georgia Multi Modal Passenger Terminal and Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport.
Remore here: http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2013/06/05/4087177/charlotte-atlanta-train-line-hearing.html#storylink=cpy
Dave: Quesstions to be asked.if you go.
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Is this planned to be over 110 MPH and if not why isn’t it called HrSR as the DOT / FRA defines it.?
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Is (are) the route(s) planned for consistent maximum speeds ?
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- How many grade crossing would be eliminated on each of the routes and how many would be left?
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Estimated transit times on each route based on 0 -6 stops ?
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Station tracks at each stop so high platforms can be used ?
For your information if route goes to the ATL Hartsfield airport there is already a location on the A&WP sub of CSX that is under a free people mover from the main terminal to the rental car terminal. CSX ROW is wide enough for station track(s)
Don,
As I understand your position you want Amtrak to give up sleeping car service along with the dining cars and baggage cars that go with it and run trains of coaches with at most a snack bar. However, Joe Boardman has said he believes sleeping cars and associated services have to be part of Amtrak on long distance routes. So it is true he doesn’t even try to get rid of them. In fact, he wants to keep them.
If Amtrak were to get rid of sleeping cars on its long distance routes would there be backlash from the Congress? I suspect there would be but of course I cannot know for certain.
John
I’m not doubting you, but where did he actually say that? In a speech or in print?
I for Amtrak taking an active role in improving the performance of their LD routes, whatever form that takes. What I see from Amtrak is complete lethargy and disinterest.
Lets try a concrete example. Suppose you split the Crescent at Atlanta into two days routes with an overnight stay in Atlanta as the bridge. Which state would object and for what reason? Might some state actually like the change (SC for example) because they would have a train that stopped - and arrived at the other end - while people are normally awake?
Leaving Atlanta on the A&WP sub toward West Point and Montgomery, is there any GOOD way to get to Birmingham? If there is, then a decent Amtrak station under the Hartsfield Airport people mover is long long overdue, and agitation for the construction of one should start immediately! Airport parking and connections to downtown (doesn’t WMATA rapid transit have an airport station?) make it a natural, and Peachtree can be kept as a second station, possibly unstaffed, for those for whom it remains convenient.
Don,
I think that is a reasonable idea and could well improve ridership on the Atlanta to Washington part of the trip. An alternative would be to move the New Orleans departure to early evening. That would allow a connection with the City of New Orleans which arrives at 3:30 pm. It would also be closer to Amtrak’s practice of running sleeping cars although I know you want to run all coaches. It would, however, move the overnight part of the journey to the New Orleans Atlanta segment and give the Carolinas a day train to Washington DC.
John
I wonder if don’s idea is predicated on whether or not most passengers ride the full route (DC to NOL) or more likely, several city pairs?
On the Crescent timetable it is about 175 miles between Atlanta and Birmingham. What would make sense to me is that the two states get together and operate their own low cost service (similar to commuter service) from Birmingham to the Atlanta Airport. Joe Boardman has pointed out that there are private companies that operate commuter service but these companies are not organized as railroads which means that a lot of the railroad labor legislation that Amtrak must follow does not apply to them. They can operate a lot more cheaply.
However, if I were an Alabama transportation planner I would want to keep the business at home and have service between Birmingham and the Mobile Airport which is about 211 miles.
Why?
“Birmingham–Shuttlesworth International Airport currently averages 301 daily aircraft operations, including 136 flights daily to 43 airports in 40 cities. BHM served 3,222,689 passengers in 2007, and is the largest and busiest airport in the state of Alabama.”
Mobile has 22 flights daily and high airfares.
Dave Klepper asks about a good way to get from the Atlanta airport to Birmingham. The only reasonable way, since the A&WP (CSX) runs right by the airport, would be to go from College Park up to Atlanta and there connect with the NS at the site of the Terminal Station. This would, of course, bypass the current passenger station in Atlanta. Since I have not checked airline service to/from Birmingham in many years, I do not know how many passengers would prefer flying into/out of Atlanta. I do know that, many years ago, air service to/from Birmingham seemed to be something like a stepchild. Forty-one years ago, there was direct service to/from Chicago (my fianceé visited me, and flew back to Boise; she had a much better trip coming to see me–she flew to Chicago and rode the Floridian to Birmingham).
Do the NS and CSX still share the tracks between Atlanta and East Point?
Looks like US Airways Express flies out of Birmingham using regional contractors to Charlotte for connections.
I think a PM departure from NOL would be reasonable thing to try. Connections from the City of NOL and Sunset really can’t matter much. Why not push it all the way to 7PM?
You would hear whining from Meridian and Tuscaloosa, and probably Birmingham but that should be drowned out by the cheers from Spartansburg and Greenville (and Charlotte and Atlanta, too)
Why not just split the route, depending on some good market research? Why run the Crescent the whole distance when probably most folks would not continue through Atlanta.
Better, yet. And, at least anecdotally, I know that to be true - few through passengers at Atlanta.
Or, even better, two ATL to NYP trains and Thruway buses to the south. (Let Megabus stop outside the Amtrak station)
Right now the Crescent leaves New Orleans at 7 am and arrives in New York Penn Station at 1:45 pm. If connections are not an issue the question then is how late is acceptable to arrive in New York.